I can often be found wearing a green bracelet on my arm with the word freedom written in many languages on it. I have been working really hard to find freedom from many things and I'm glad to say that so far it's going well!
It's not easy, and there are days where I just feel like f-it I don't want to do all this work to change things up, to change the way I've done things for forever. On those days I just take a deep breath and keep it moving though. I've kept in my thoughts and emphasize it greatly on those down days that in order to get something you've never had you have to be willing to do something you've never done! For me this is the right time to put the effort in to feel some things that I've put off feeling because there wasn't time for that, to learn more about myself and how to take care of me, and to grow from the collective of experiences that I have had in a direction that I wasn't ready to grow in before. It's a good time to say the least!
There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary-we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit.